When Kaepernick turned 18, he didn’t register to vote in his (then) home state of California in 2005. When he attended the University of Nevada, he didn’t register to vote over there, either. Nor did he register to vote when Barack Obama was facing off against John McCain or Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2012. The guy just doesn’t vote and has never voted in any election, whether local, state or federal. And that’s his right, people! Don’t be so peeved that some professional football player isn’t too keen on mob rule (read up on your Plato and Aristotle). Think of people with torches and pitch folks trying to guide politics. Would you want to say you’re part of this group?

And this view isn’t so controversial, many people around you simply abstain from voting and they probably don’t tell you (and for good reason, too). Not to come down hard on the state of democracy in this country, but if we want things to work in our favor, many of us got to smarten up, stop acting like an unruly mob, become grown adults and not a bunch of babies!

Alright, back to Kaepernick not voting. One person in particular, Stephen A. Smith, went off the rails on this football star for not voting. Smith was pissed! “The fact that you don’t even have the decency to go to the polls and activate yourself in this election, as our president said, is a damn shame,” said Smith. “I don’t want to hear another word from Colin Kaepernick!”

Smith may have lost his top and regarded all of Colin Kaepernick’s protests to mean nothing now that the star has outed himself as a nonvoter. But Smith seemed to be caught up in the emotion of the moment, like many people feeling the outcome of this election, whether for better or for worse.

Colin admitted that one other reason he didn’t vote was to avoid being considered a hypocrite, as he didn’t want to contribute to a “system of oppression.” Kaepernick added, “To me, the oppressor isn’t going to allow you to vote your way out of your oppression.”

Come on, people, don’t be so hard on Colin Kaepernick! I’ll repeat this once more: over 90 million eligible voters also chose not to vote! Look around you! Most likely many of your colleagues, family members, friends, and Facebook acquaintences didn’t show up to vote on November 8 (or if you follow everything Donald Trump says then it’s November 28, where you can vote in the land of make-believe). And it’s not like Colin Kaepernick has done anything terrible like bait war with Russia or scapegoat any specific ethnic group.

Colin, you’re off the hook! Now, go and play some football like you’re paid to do!